Fahrenheit 451 As A Dystopian Society Essay - 1048 Words

Imagine living in a society where the whole world of literature has been completely turned upside down. Books are now being burned in attempt to stop the characteristic we know as individuality and a dystopian society seeks to control the population by eliminating individual desires, thoughts and passions. The novel Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury explores the idea of a dystopian society that burns books to eliminate individuality and specific opinions between all persons. The protagonist of the novel, Guy Montag is a fireman who burns books as a profession. In Montag’s journey throughout the story, his opinion on burning books changes drastically from thinking books are pointless and destructive to thinking books are now†¦show more content†¦Through this quote, Mrs.Bowles reminds Montag of the dangers of literature. She tells him literature is terrible and filled with awful feelings, she subconsciously finds this as a threat. Mrs.Bowles and Mrs.Phelps, who ar e not individuals like Montag is, are hurt by hearing this. When Mrs.Phelps starts to cry, it angers Mrs.Bowles because tears are a sign of disagreement and individuality, and a lack to control it. As dystopian society views individuality and distinctive characters as a threat, Through Fahrenheit 451, there are few specific times where a plan was executed to eliminate a person exhibiting those traits. In the beginning of the book, one of the main characters introduced to the reader is Clarisse. When Montag first meets Clarisse, he finds her very strange because of the subjects she talks about and her distinctive ideas and opinions. For example, when she first meets Montag she says, â€Å"I heard once that a long time ago houses used to burn by accident and they needed firemen to stop the flames† (6). As the story progresses, Clarisse becomes less relevant as a character until Montag asks his wife, Mildred about Clarisse. Mildred carelessly explains that Clarisse is has ‘died in a car accident and her family has moved away’. Montag is distraught and concerned by this, finding it suspicious that Clarisse has died so suddenly. Montag missed talking to Clarisse because she was so different from other people he had talked too;Show MoreRelatedFarenheit451/Gattaca, Relationship Between Man and Machine1243 Words   |  5 PagesENGLISH ESSAY Science fiction is a genre of fiction revolving around science and technology, usually conveying the dystopian alternative future context, the pessimistic resultant of society. Ray Bradbury s Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and Andrew Niccols Gattaca (1997) both explore the values and concerns of human existence. Despite the difference in context, Gattaca and Fahrenheit 451 both extrapolate the relationship between man and machine in a metaphorical sense. Both pose similar dystopian conceptsRead MoreThe Sound of Silence Response Essay622 Words   |  3 PagesResponse Essay Dystopian works force us to look at social problems because they exaggerate issues to get the viewer’s attention. By seeing where social problems can or will lead to in the future, people pay more attention to what is going on and they feel the need to do something about it. The song, â€Å"The Sound of Silence,† by Paul Simon is about being revealed to the light. Seeing what one was never realized before. It relates well to the allegory of the cave by Plato and the book Fahrenheit 451, itRead MoreFahrenheit 451 Critical Essay1607 Words   |  7 Pagesï » ¿Lintang Syuhada 13150024 Book Report 1 Fahrenheit 451 Critical Essay Human beings are naturally curious. We are always in search of better ideas, and new solutions to problems. One of a basic idea of Indonesia has been freedom of thinking and a free flow of ideas. But in some societies, governments try to keep their people ignorant. Usually, this is so governments can keep people under control and hold on to their power. In trying to keep people from the realities of the world, these oppressiveRead MoreHow Does Montag Change In Fahrenheit 4511163 Words   |  5 PagesFahrenheit 451 Essay In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, there is a story of the character Guy Montag who is a fireman in a dystopian society, a society in which people get entertainment from giant TVs they call â€Å"Parlor Walls† and houses have been deemed fireproof. Since fireman do not need to run around and eliminate fires, they start them. The job of a fireman in this dystopian society is that they burn books and the places that contain them, all the while being the official censorsRead MoreFahrenheit 451 - Power of Books1470 Words   |  6 PagesTHE POWER OF BOOKS ESSAY Guy Montag’s â€Å"crime against society†, was that he understood the power of books. Fahrenheit 451 (1953), written by Ray Bradbury depicts a dystopian society which, due to the absence of books, discourages intellect and punishes free-will. As receptacles of knowledge, books give human beings a unique power, as they encourage and nurture intellect and understanding. The intellectual metamorphosis that Montag undergoes renders him aware of this fact, making him anRead MoreOne Of The First Dystopian Novels To Become Famous Was1396 Words   |  6 PagesOne of the first dystopian novels to become famous was 1984. The concept of dystopian novels is not only to entertain readers, but to let them understand the characteristics and ideas of a dystopian society. Some of these characteristics are shown through our society but at a more drastic level. Basic fears are exaggerated such as the following: distrust of others, disease, contaminated water, nuclear holocaust, etc. The reader can gain more knowledge by finding ways in which the topics the authorRead MoreThe Symbo lism of Fire in Fahrenheit 451790 Words   |  4 PagesThe Symbolism of fire in Fahrenheit 451 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury describes a dystopian society where firemen instead of putting out fires, light them in pursuit of vanishing all books. The protagonist of the novel, Guy Montag, is a fireman that started questioning his beliefs about love, society and mainly questioning his job as an enemy of books, and the use of fire. This essay will discuss how does Montag understands fire through the novel and how fire is presented in the book. Read MoreDystopian Society Essay1882 Words   |  8 PagesThe United States: Movements Toward a Dystopian Society The destruction of nature, increase in the pollution across the globe, constant surveillance upon everyone, and the inability to have the freedom to search what you would like on electronic devices. This action will result if the cautionary text, Fahrenheit 451, is not utilized to locate and withdraw flaws in our own modern and developing North American society. Despite the date of the text, the messages displayed can directly correlate toRead MoreFahrenheit 451 Essay1076 Words   |  5 PagesAs renowned author Ernest Hemingway said, â€Å"There is no friend as loyal as a book†. This can be true at times, but in Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451, many people in the novel’s dystopian society think otherwise. In this essay I’ll be discussing the 5 books I’d save from the firemen if I was Guy Montag in Fahrenheit 451, and which of the 5 I’d choose to remember and â€Å"become†. The books I’d save would be Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, Jandy Nelson’s I’ll GiveRead MoreRay Douglas Bradbury699 Words   |  3 PagesDouglas 1). Ray Douglas Bradbury a native of Waukegan, Illinois grew up happy and desired to be a writer at the age of 12. He wrote one of his most famous works Fahrenheit 451 in 1953 and it was acclaimed almost instantly as an American Classic (Ray Bradbury Douglas 1). Bradbury’s science fiction has turned into an eerie reality with today’s society paralleling it’s entertainment centered culture. Although he was born and lived a few years in Waukegan, his family moved to Los Angeles where he began

Video Games And Its Effects On Children - 924 Words

M for Mature Video games have come a long way since first becoming popular in the 1970s. Electronic gaming has become one of the most common forms of entertainment among kids today. The games marketed to younger audiences are becoming less family friendly then when they were originally introduced. While many games are rated to be played by those eighteen and older many parents allow their children to take part in such games. From running around with a gun shooting everything in sight to surviving a nuclear apocalypse, games adolescents are playing are encouraging violent behaviors. Children who are frequently playing video games are also less likely to be successful in real world communication skills which can lead to depression. When a child is only reacting with people they’ve never met in online gaming lobbies they are likely to be less confident talking to a person in the same room. Prolonged exposure to violent video games desensitizes kids to violence, make them more aggressive, and affect their mental health. Video game violence is making kids less reactive to real world brutality. Barbaric games such as Call of Duty are taking violent real life situations like wars and making them into playable content. By giving players missions and rewarding the amount of kills they get; these games are making war seem like fun instead of the brutal heartbreaking situation it is in reality. In a study performed by social psychologist Brad Bushman, young adults were separated intoShow MoreRelatedThe Effects Of Video Games On Children Essay1279 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction Video games have always been a controversial type of entertainment, that may come from how relatively new video games are compared to other mediums of entertainment[1]. Maybe because of that when a violent crime occurs and the culprit has played a lot of games the media is quick to point at violent games as the reason for the crime, but is that true or are the media just biased or looking for quick views, this report aims to answer that question. Do games affect our way of thinkingRead MoreEffects Of Video Games On Children Essay1357 Words   |  6 PagesScreening to a halt: Are parents in New Zealand able to identify signs of dependency or addiction in their children due to over use of screen-time from the recreational use of video games? Digital technology and the vast amount of video games have increased the amount of screen time consumption in contemporary New Zealand society. The saturation of smart phones, ipad’s, tablets, computers, game consoles and the Internet are devices with the means of connection to gaming. Many New Zealand families integrateRead MoreThe Effects of Video Games on Children1288 Words   |  6 PagesThe Effects of Video Games on Children Technology today has progressed rapidly from generation to generation. Children and young adults are both into video games and the latest gadgets out there. Video games have been available to customers for the last 30 years. They are a unique way to entertain individuals because they encourage players to become a part of the games script. Victor Strasburger an author of â€Å"Children, Adolescents, and the media† stated â€Å"The rising popularity of video games hasRead MoreThe Effects Of Video Games On Children1548 Words   |  7 PagesVideo Games Introduction Today video games are a staple in most households. It is pretty amazing to know that the first creation of games date all the way back to the 1900s. They were not originally invented to make a profit, but to give patients something to do while waiting in the lobby of an office. One inventor had a simple idea of using the monitor not just as a television set, but as a way to play games. College students were just playing around with equipment and happened upon something greatRead MoreThe Effects of Video and Video Games on Children2043 Words   |  8 Pagesaction, usually in a cartoon, movie, or video game. For many of us, Disney is where we refer back to early forms of animation with the idea of using thousands of consecutive drawings; through Disney, we can now see how far this idea of breathing life into static objects has advanced. Today, animation is becoming more and more realistic. With highly advanced technology and computer programs, it has become easier for simple cartoons to develop into what children see as real life. These animated cartoonsRead MoreVideo Games And Its Effects On Children927 Words   |  4 PagesVideo games are a more interesting form of entertainment for the simple reason that players may become part of the game’s plot. Video games were invented for many years now. However, the current variety of games raised concerns about how they affect the children s behavior due to the fact that the games are becoming more sophisticated. Children spend most of their free time playing video games. Sometimes children refrain from completing important duties and dedicate all of their time playing videoRead MoreVideo Games And Its Effects On Children940 Words   |  4 Pageswas bored they went outside to play, they created new games, or they played with friends. But, for the past three decades, video games and other digital media have been persuading many adolescents and children to spend the majority of their time playing them. Video games seem to satisfy children’s natural need to interact socially, however more often than not, they lead to social isolation. Overexposure to digital media, such as video games is detrimental to the health and function of a child’sRead MoreVideo Games And Its Effects On Children1519 Words   |  7 PagesVideo games in the 21st century have transformed from friendly competing into guns, explosions, and major violence. Video games are getting away with more violence every year and the games are becoming more extreme. The consistence and severity of violence is at an all-time high leading the most popular games in the gaming community to have a ‘mature’ rating due to the considerable amount of violence involved. For example, one of the highest selling video games of all time grossing one billion itsRead MoreThe Effects of Video Games on Children1656 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction For more than 30 years, video gaming has been a popular activity amongst many of America’s children. With over $63 billion (Reuters, reuters.com) worth sold each year, video games are here to stay. While much controversy has arisen over the subject, video games have benefited the United States of America and its citizens to a great degree. For example, the military and CIA use gaming to train soldiers (Davidson, www.ehow.com), and classrooms use video games to teach students. The potentialRead MoreThe Effects Of Video Games On Children Essay1736 Words   |  7 PagesEffects of Video Games We see it everywhere we go, video games. Kids and adults are being captivated over the new video games that are coming out. Call of Duty, Battlefield,Uncharted; these are the games that people are enjoying and becoming fascinated with. What do all of those things have in common? There is only one answer and that is violence. Fighting, shooting, killing, these are the things that video games bring to the table and stimulate people s minds. We should ask ourselves whether

Night World Soulmate Chapter 15 Free Essays

string(16) " do this to me\." Hannah’s breath was taken away. She hadn’t expected a coherent answer from Maya†¦ but she’d gotten one. And she did understand. We will write a custom essay sample on Night World : Soulmate Chapter 15 or any similar topic only for you Order Now Maya had devoted her life to keeping Hannah and Thierry apart. Her long life. Her thousands of years. If she lost at this point, that life became meaningless. â€Å"You don’t know how to do anything else,† Hannah whispered slowly, figuring it out. â€Å"Oh, enough of the press conference. I know how to do lots of things-you’ll find that out. I’m through fooling around with you, cupcake.† Hannah ignored the threat-and the insulting endearment. â€Å"But it won’t do you any good,† she said, * genuinely bewildered, as if she and Maya were discussing whether or not to go shopping together. â€Å"You’re going to kill me, sure, I understand that. But it won’t help you get Thierry. He’ll just hate you more†¦ and he’ll just wait for me to come back.† Maya had knelt by the backpack, rummaging in it. she looked up at Hannah and smiled-a strange slow smile. â€Å"Will he?† Hannah stared at those red lips, feeling as if someone were pouring ice water down her backbone. â€Å"You know he will. Unless you kill him, too.† The lips curved again. â€Å"An interesting idea. But not quite what I had in mind. I need him alive; he’s my prize, you see. When you win, you need a prize.† Hannah was feeling colder and colder inside. â€Å"Then he’ll wait.† â€Å"Not if you’re not coming back.† And how do you arrange that? Hannah thought. God, maybe she’s going to keep me alive here†¦ tied up and alive until I’m ninety. The idea brought a wave of suffocating fear. Hannah glanced around, trying to imagine what it would be like to spend her life in this place. In this cold, dark, horrible†¦ Maya burst into laughter. â€Å"You can’t figure it out, can you? Well, let me help.† She walked to where Hannah was sitting and knelt. â€Å"Look at this. Look, Hannah.† She was holding up an oval hand mirror. At the same moment she shone the flashlight on Hannah’s face. Hannah looked into the mirror-and gasped. It was her face†¦ but not her face. For one instant she couldn’t put her finger on the difference-all she could think was that it was Hana’s face, Hana of the Three Rivers. And then she realized. Her birthmark was gone. Or †¦ almost gone. She could still see a shadow of it if she turned her head to one side. But it had faded almost to invisibility. God, I’m good-looking, Hannah thought numbly. She was too dazed to feel either vain or humble. Then she realized it wasn’t just the absence of the birthmark that made her look beautiful. Even in the unnatural beam of the flashlight she could tell that she was pale. Her skin was creamy, almost translucent. Her eyes seemed larger and brighter. Her mouth seemed softer and more sensuous. And there was an indefinable something about her face†¦. I look like Poppy, she thought. Like Poppy, the girl with the copper hair. The vampire. Wordlessly, she looked at Maya. Maya’s red lips stretched in a smile. â€Å"Yes. I exchanged blood with you when I picked you up last night. That’s why you slept so long†¦ you probably don’t realize it, but it’s afternoon out there. And you’re changing already. I figure one more exchange of blood†¦ maybe two. I don’t want to rush things. I can’t have you dying before you become a vampire.† Hannah’s mind was reeling. Her head fell back weakly to rest against the post. She stared at Maya. â€Å"But why?† she whispered, almost pleadingly. â€Å"Why make me a vampire?† Maya stood. She walked over to the backpack and carefully tucked the mirror inside. Then she pulled out something else, something so long that it was sticking out of the top of the pack. She held it up. A stake. A black wooden stake, like a spear, about as long as Maya’s arm. It had a nice pointed end on it. â€Å"Vampires don’t come back,† Maya said. Suddenly there was a roaring in Hannah’s ears. She swallowed and swallowed. She was afraid she was going to faint or be sick. â€Å"Vampires†¦ don’t†¦ ?† â€Å"It’s an interesting bit of trivia, isn’t it? Maybe it’ll be on â€Å"Jeopardy!† someday. I have to admit, I don’t exactly understand the logistics-but vampires don’t reincarnate, not even if they’re Old Souls. They just die. I’ve heard it suggested that it’s because making them vampires takes their souls away, but I don’t know†¦. Does Thierry have a soul, do you think?† Everything was whirling around Hannah now. There was nothing solid, nothing to hang on to. To die †¦ she could face that. But to die forever, to go out†¦ what if vampires didn’t even go to some other place, some afterlife? What if they just suddenly weren’t? It was the most frightening thing she had ever imagined. â€Å"I won’t let you,† she whispered, hearing her own voice come out hoarse and ragged. â€Å"I won’t-â€Å" â€Å"But you can’t stop me,† Maya said, amused. â€Å"Those ropes are hemp-they’ll hold you when you’re a vampire as well as when you’re human. You’re helpless, poor baby. You can’t do anything against me.† With a look of pleasure in her own cleverness, she said, â€Å"I finally found a way to break the cycle.† She left the backpack and knelt in front of Hannah again. This time when the red lips parted, Hannah saw long sharp teeth. Hannah fought. Even knowing that it was hopeless, she did everything she could think of, lashing out at Maya with the strength of sheer desperation. But it wasn’t any good. Maya was simply that much stronger than she was. In a matter of minutes, Hannah found herself with both hands pinned and her head twisted to one side, her throat exposed. Now she knew why Maya had forced her to drink vampire blood before. It hadn’t just been random cruelty. It was part of a plan. You can’t do this to me. You read "Night World : Soulmate Chapter 15" in category "Essay examples" You can’t. You can’t kill my soul†¦. â€Å"Ready or not,† Maya said, almost humming it. Then Hannah felt teeth. She struggled again, like a gazelle in the jaws of a lioness. It had no effect. She could feel the unique pain of her blood being drawn out against her will. She could feel Maya drinking deeply. I don’t want this to be happening†¦. At last the pain faded to a drowsy sort of ache. Hannah’s mind felt dopey, her body numb. Maya was wrestling her into a different position, tilting Hannah’s head back and pressing her wrist to Hannah’s mouth. I won’t drink. I’ll let myself drown first. At least I’ll die before I’m a vampire†¦. But she found that it wasn’t that easy to will yourself into dying from lack of air. Eventually, she choked and swallowed Maya’s blood. She wound up coughing and sputtering, trying to clear her throat and get air. Maya sat back. â€Å"There,† she said, slightly breathless. She shone the flashlight into Hannah’s face again. â€Å"Yes.† She looked judicial, like a woman considering a turkey in the oven. â€Å"Yes, it’s going very well. Once more should do it. You’d be a vampire now, if so much time since the first we hadn’t wasted exchange.† â€Å"Thierry will kill you when he finds out,† Hannah whispered. â€Å"And break his sacred promise? I don’t think so.† Maya smiled and got up again, pottering with her backpack. â€Å"Of course, this wouldn’t be happening if he hadn’t broken his promise to me,† she added, almost matter-of-factly. â€Å"He told me that you wouldn’t come between us anymore. But the next time I turn around-there you are! Shacked up in his house, no less. He should have known better.† Hannah stared at her. â€Å"He didn’t even know I was there. Maya-don’t you realize that? He didn’t know-â€Å" Maya cut her off with a gesture. â€Å"Don’t expect me to believe anything you say. Not at this point.† She straightened up, looked at Hannah, then sighed. She switched off the lantern and picked up the flashlight. â€Å"I’m afraid I’m going to have to leave you for a while, now. I’ll be back tonight to finish this little job. Don’t worry, I won’t be late†¦ after all, I have a deadline to meet. Tomorrow’s your birthday.† â€Å"Maya †¦Ã¢â‚¬  I have to keep her here talking, Hannah thought. I have to make her understand that Thierry didn’t break his promise. She was trying to ignore the chilling question that ran just under her thoughts. What if Thierry had been serious about what he’d told Maya? If he really wanted to be with Maya as long as Hannah was no longer between them? â€Å"Can’t stay; must fly,† Maya said, trilling laughter again. â€Å"I hope you won’t be too lonely. By the way, I wouldn’t rock that pole too much. This is an abandoned silver mine, and that whole structure is unstable.† â€Å"Maya-â€Å" â€Å"See you later.† She picked up the backpack and walked away. She ignored Hannah’s yells. And eventually, when Hannah couldn’t see the beam of the flashlight anymore, she stopped yelling. She was in the dark again. And weaker. Drained emotionally and drained of vitality by what Maya had done. She felt sick, feverish, and itchy as if there were bugs crawling under her skin. And she was alone. Almost, almost, she gave in to the panic again. But she was afraid that if she lost control this time, she’d never get it back. She’d be insane by the time Maya returned. Time. That’s it, girl, you’ve got some time. She’s not coming back until tonight, so get your head clear and start using the time you have. But it’s so dark†¦. Wait. Did she take the lantern with her? She turned it off, but did she take it? With the utmost caution, Hannah felt around her with her hands. Nothing-but then she couldn’t lean very far because of the rope. Okay. Try your feet. Carefully. If you kick it away, it’s all over. Hannah lifted one leg and began to gently pat the foot down toward the ground. Little pats, slow pats. About the third time she did it, her foot hit something that fell over. That’s it! Now nudge it toward you. Careful. Careful. Closer†¦ almost†¦ now around to your side†¦ Got it! Hannah reached out and grabbed the lantern, holding it desperately with both hands like somebody holding a radio while sitting in the bathtub. Don’t drop it †¦ find the switch. Light blossomed. Hannah kissed the lantern. She actually kissed it. It was an ordinary battery-operated fluorescent camping lantern, but she felt as if she were holding a miracle. Light made such a difference. Okay. Now look around you. What can you do to help yourself here? But looking around made her heart sink. The cavern she was in was irregular, with uneven walls and overhanging slabs of rock. A silver mine, Maya had said. That meant the place was probably blasted out by humans. On either side of her, Hannah could see more posts like the one she was tied to. They seemed to form a kind of scaffolding against the wall. So miners can get to it, I guess, she thought vaguely. Or maybe to help hold the roof up, or both. And it’s unstable. As a last resort, she could simply do her best to bring the whole thing down. And then pray she died quickly. For now, she kept looking. The wall on her right, the only one she could see in the pool of lantern light, was surprisingly variegated. Even beautiful. It wasn’t just rough gray rock; it was rough gray rock veined with milky-white and pale pink quartz. Silver comes in quartz sometimes, Hannah thought. She knew that much from her mom’s friends, the rockhounds. But that doesn’t do me any good. It’s pretty, but useless. She was starting to panic again. She had a light, but what good was it? She could see, but she had nothing to work with. There’s got to be something here. Rocks. I’ve got rocks and that’s it. Hannah shifted to get away from one that was bruising her thigh. Maybe I can throw rocks at her†¦. Not rocks. Quartz. Suddenly Hannah’s whole body was tingling. Her breath was stopped in her lungs and her skin felt electrified. I’ve got quartz. With shaking hands, she put the lantern down. She reached for an angular chunk of rock on the ground beside her. Tears sprang to her eyes. This is a quartz nodule. It’s crystal. Fine-grained. Workable. I know how to make a tool out of this. She’d never done it in this life, of course. But Hana of the Three Rivers had done it all the time. She’d made knives, scrapers, drills†¦ and hand-axes. She would have preferred flint to work with; it fractured much more regularly. But quartz was fine. I can feel in my hands how to do it. †¦ Okay. Stay calm. First, find a hammer stone. It was too easy. There were rocks all around her. Hannah picked up one with a slightly rounded surface, weighed it in her hand. It felt good. She pulled her legs in, set the angular chunk in front of her, and started working. She didn’t actually make a hand-ax. She didn’t need to. Once she had bashed off a few flakes with long sharp edges, she started sawing at the rope. The flakes were wavy and irregular, but they were as sharp as broken glass and quite sufficient to cut the hemp. It took a long time, and twice she had to make new flakes when the ones she was using blunted. But she was patient. She kept working until she could pull first one length of rope, then another and another free. When the last strand parted, she almost screamed in sheer joy. I’m free! I did it! I did it! She jumped up, her weakness and fever forgotten. She danced around the room. Then she ran back and picked up her precious lantern. And now-I’m out of here! But she wasn’t. It took a while for the realization to dawn. First, she walked back in the direction that Maya had come. She found what felt like miles of twisting passageways, sometimes so narrow that the walls almost brushed her shoulders, and so low that she had to duck her head. The rock was cold-and wet. There were several branching passages, but each one led to a dead end. And it was only when Hannah got to the end of the main passage that she realized how Maya had gotten into the mine. She was standing below a vertical shaft. It soared maybe a hundred feet straight up. At the very top, she could see reddish sunlight. It was like a giant chimney, except that the walls were nowhere near that close to each other. And nowhere near irregular enough to climb. No human could get out this way. I suppose they had some sort of elevator or something when the mine was working, Hannah thought dazedly. She was sick and numb. She couldn’t believe that her triumph had turned into this. For a while she shouted, staring up at that square of infuriating, unattainable sunlight. When she got so hoarse she could scarcely hear herself anymore, she admitted that it was no use. Nobody is going to come and rescue you. Okay. S(c) you have to rescue yourself. But all I’ve got is rocks†¦. No. No, I’m free now. I can move around. I can get to the scaffolding. I’ve got rocks-and wood. Hannah stood paralyzed for a second, then she clutched the lantern to her chest and went running back down the passageway. When she got to her cavern, she examined the scaffolding excitedly. Yes. Some of this wood is still good. It’s old, but it’s hard. I can work with this. This time, she made a real hand-ax, taking special care to fashion the tip, making it thin and straight-edged and sharp. The final tool was roughly triangular and heavy. It fit comfortably in her hand. Hana would have been proud of it. Then she used the ax to chop off a length of wood from the creaking, groaning scaffolding. All the while she did it she whistled softly, hoping she wasn’t going to bring the whole structure down on her head. She used the ax to shape the length of wood, too, making it round, about as thick as her thumb and as long as her forearm. She knocked off a quartz scraper to do the finer shaping. Finally she used a flake to hone one end of the stick to a point. She ground it back and forth against an outcrop of gritty stone to bring it to maximum smoothness and sharpness. Then she held out the finished tool and admired it. She had a stake. A very good stake. And Maya was going to get a surprise. Hannah sat down, turned the lantern off to conserve the battery, and began to wait. How to cite Night World : Soulmate Chapter 15, Essay examples

Legal Guide to the Global Oil and Gas Industry

Question: Examine and evaluate the key areas and features that governments should focus on during their negotiation process and in the drafting of contracts with the International Oil Companies? Answer: Introduction: This article will be a discussion paper on different legal factors regarding the negotiations that did by the governments with various oil companies and also with the drafting of contracts with the oil companies. The main objective of this paper is to enlighten the focal area upon which the government should pay some attention at the time of negotiating with the oil companies. It can be observed that in the world many countries are full of natural resource, but they are under developed or developing for some reasons. These countries always try to use these valuable natural resources to gather essential capitals for their future development process. Oil is natural resources. But the exploration of oil is a difficult task. Therefore the govt. of oil intense countries try to make a contract with some oil companies for the exploration. There are different aspects behind this oil exploration such as legal, technical and commercial. Both the govt. and oil exploring companies make an effort to perceive these aspects. However, while making the process of contract with the oil companies, the first challenge the govt. has to face all the time is the negotiation with the oil exploring countries. In this negotiation process, both the parties have some advantage, and these advantages make the negotiation process so difficult ultimately. Oil natural gas abandoned countries always thinks that the oil and gas reserves are the properties of the countries irrespective of the ownership of the surface land. They always try to acquire gains as much as possible from this oil exploration and the sale of various oil products after the processing of explored crude oil. On the other hand, the oil exploring companies are very much experienced in the negotiation process as one of the important tasks of the management authorities of these companies is to negotiate with different oil and gas abandoned countries. Another important advantage of these oil exploring countries is they have expe rt professional and very much aware about the technology needed for the proper exploration. These companies follow minimum cost production process that the country may not able to employ if they want to explore the oil itself. The negotiation also depends on the current political situation of the country. It can be observed in most of the case that, due to lack of development the oil companies put a lot of pressure on the weak govt. In this case, the behavior of the oil companies is very much aggressive and also inflexible. Their main goal was to earn a profit from this exploration process as much as possible. These companies also use sometime illegal tactics to earn a higher profit than is possible under a legal contract. However the govt. always tries to make the contracts with these companies in a legal manner. The government has mainly three choices for the oil exploration. These three options are 1) Transfer the right of the exploration of the oil and natural gas from the surf ace area to some international oil exploring companies, 2) exploration of crude oil and natural gas by the govt. owned companies and 3) exploration of oil and natural gas by both govt. owned companies and international companies i.e. the exploration of oil through a joint venture of both public and private companies. The government of Russia, United Kingdom, and Canada follow the first option whereas the government of Mexico, Arab Emirates have opted the second option. Most of the Asian countries like Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Pakistan, and India employ both public and private companies to explore the crude oil and natural gas and their marketing i.e. they implement the third option. Problems faced during the negotiation process: The problems that arise during the negotiation time can be classified into two parts. They are significant problems and non significant problems. The govt. generally does not pay much emphasis on the insignificant problems. The companies give almost 80% time to the resolution of these problems. These problems arise from the political, environmental and social factors. For the resolution the oil exploring companies hire expert personnel. The problems come under the significant problem part, which is also known as conflict zone are solved by the govt. of oil and gas reserve countries. These two types problems are now discussed briefly in the following paragraphs. 1) Negotiator expertise: The government of oil and gas counties sometime faces some problem while employing appropriate negotiators or negotiator team. Proper negotiation needs a lot of pre-designed plans, good but effective tactics and the most important thing is the ability to separate important factors like remuneration from the other unimportant factors like rules and regulation in the oil exploration and other relatively insignificant matters of the companies. It can be said with confident that the oil exploring companies has high negotiable power than the govt. because of it has skilled labor, up to date technology, equipments, enough capital to invest etc. Therefore, it is important for the govt. to hire an efficient as well as an independent negotiator from their side who can able to fetch some gain from this negotiation process. But, unfortunately, most of the time it can be seen that the govt. pay less importance in this important problems. A two-sided beneficiary negotiation is possible only under the expert advice as this process is a very complicated job. But the problem arises in this section due to the govt. oversight. 2) Transparency in the contract: Oil exploration needs a huge amount of capital investment and for this public involvement is necessary to run the whole process. A transparency in the negotiation process as well as in the contract paper is mandatory to increase the public reliability on oil exploring companies. They expect that both the govt. and oil exploring companies will maintain transparency in the whole process. But in reality, it can be seen that a lot of govt. officials and also top level management personnel of the oil exploring countries are engaged in the corruption. This creates a bad image about both the govt. and the companies and effects very much on the public investment. 3) Conflict of the interests: At the time of negotiation process, the govt. has to keep in mind the various role played by itself. On the one hand, the govt. has to protect its residents from any unexpected loss results from this oil exploration. It can be done through the regulatory power of the govt. On the other hand, the oil exploring countries are private companies. Their main objective is to secure high profit through the exploration process. Therefore the govt. should make appropriate conditions for them so that they can show some interest in the oil exploration in these countries. This investment by the private companies will eventually make a lot of employment opportunities and help for future economic growth. Moreover, another objective of the govt. is to gain some funds from this negotiation as much as possible which it can use for its future development. But all these different kinds of object make a conflict in the interest of the govt. 4) Time: The strength of negotiation from the govt. side mostly depends on the time at which the negotiation takes place. The prevailing price of oil at that time, the economic, social and political condition of the country, the demand for oil and natural gas by the country and also by the global market and their future change causes significant effects on the negotiation process. Therefore, a contract with oil exploring countries must include these time variating factors so that the contract will be effective in the future even in the presence of some unexpected events such as a big hike in oil price or a large reduction in oil price. But in most of the contract, these facts are overlooked by the govt., which should not be done. 5) Effects on other communities: Two important participants of the negation process are the govt. of oil abandoned countries and the oil exploring private companies. These two parties will be affected moistly this negotiation process. However, there are some other units may also affected by this negotiation process. They are the residents and owner of the surface area below which the oil and gas reserve exists. The govt. of the country includes these surface areas as their area. However, recently the residents and the owner of these surface areas start demanding compensation either in the form of cash or form of job opportunity from both govt. and oil exploring countries. These residents and owner community do no directly take part in the negotiation process. However, to start the oil exploration processes without any hindrance the govt. and also the oil exploring countries have to consider them into the negotiation process. The oil exploring countries take initiatives to give them either suitable job opportunity or compensation so that they can run the whole process smoothly. The oil exploring companies also help in the economic development of this local community. These make the whole negotiation process a little bit complex and also time-consuming. Froms of contract: There are different forms of contracts. An important task of both the govt. and the private oil exploring companies is to take a decision regarding the types of contact they want to follow. They forms of contract can be of four types. They are 1) Joint Ventures, 2) License Agreements, 3) Production sharing agreements and 4) service agreements. These different forms are discussed in the following paragraphs briefly. 1) Joint Ventures: The joint venture is the working of two or more companies together. In case of joint venture, the goals or objectives of the two companies, their way of operating business must be same. Otherwise, they cannot make a joint venture business. The joint venture can be seen as an open end contact. Therefore the govt. of oil and natural abandoned countries and also the private oil exploring countries will not be interested to enter into a joint venture project. Now if the govt has to make a joint venture with the oil exploring countries due to some reasons then the main advantage of the govt. will be it can avail the opportunity of the usage of skilled labor, and low production cost modern technologies. But the disadvantage is the govt. cannot take any decision independently. It is known that the objective of the govt. and the goals of the private oil exploring countries may be different. This difference may create conflict in the time of making a joint business decision. Another important factor is joint venture forces the govt. to share profits as well as the loss risk also. This loss will affect the future growth of the country gradually. Therefore, it can be suggested that the govt. should not enter into the joint venture with the private oil exploring companies in the case involving a lot of uncertainties (Law.ed.ac.uk, 2015). 2) License Agreements: This agreement is often known as Confession agreements. This agreement is a kind of one-sided agreements. In this type agreement, the oil abandoned countries give all the rights of exploration and sale of crude oil and natural gas to the private oil exploring companies. These companies in the return of this right offer some bonus to the govt. The government of the country sometime choice this type of contract. The main advantage of the selection of this type of contract is the developing country has not to bear the loss and the uncertainty involving in this operation process. Moreover, the govt. does not need to invest any in the oil exploration. Therefore, the required capital will be less compared to the other forms of contracts. However, the disadvantage of this form of contract is the govt. has less negotiation paper. Therefore the govt. cannot be able to fetch a high compensation from the oil exploring countries and also can not earn any share of the profit acquired by the priva te company (Internationallawoffice.com, 2015). So, it can be said after the analysis of advantages and disadvantages of the license agreements that this contract form will be appropriate for the developing countries. 3) Product sharing agreements (PSA): In this type agreement, the oil ownership goes to the residents of the oil abandoned countries whereas the risk involved in the production and operation has to be bear by the private oil exploring countries. The rule and regulation of this kind agreement is almost same as the license form of contracts. In this type of contract the govt. will be offered a monetary reward. But this kind of reward is waved so as the govt. can fetch profit in the future time. But the disadvantage of this kind of contract is the govt. of the oil reserve country has to make a repayment of operating expense to the private oil exploring countries. In this types of contracts, the private companies have to make a tax payment to the govt. However the govt. can waive theses taxes in returns of the profits share. This contract form is also very good for the developing countries, but it is important to note that the success of this kind of contract form mostly depends on the legal structure of the contract between two parties (Www4.rgu.ac.uk, 2015). 4) Service agreements: This type of agreement is well for the initial period, but this contract form is not good for the long run. In this type of agreement, a cash payment is offered for each and every task and service (USFILTER STRENGTHENS PROFILE IN OIL AND GAS, 2002). Terms of contract: Terms of contract which are applicable to all of the above forms of contracts are discussed in the following paragraphs now. 1) Termination of Contract: In the contract paper, the clause or the conditions have to be mentioned under which any one or both the parties can terminate the contract without making any confliction. It is very important to include those particular conditions in the contract paper and also both the party should be agreed over these conditions (Aberlour-press.com, 2015). 2) Work Program: The operation of the private oil companies can be slowed due to the unfavorable conditions and if the company finds the production process relatively expensive than if it would lower level. This eventually affects the overall business growth of the private company and also the economic growth of the country as well. Therefore, the govt. of the host country should pay some attention to the resolution of such problem to keep the operation of the private company at a moderate level (Inkpen and Moffett, 2011). 3) Stabilization: The stabilization clauses are those clauses that if include in the contract paper then that will be a great disadvantages for both the companies and the country. It can be observed that this inclusion may make the legal structure of a country most inefficient. Another disadvantage is this clause forces the country govt. to make compensation to its investors (Internationallawoffice.com, 2015) 4) Parties: In the making of a contract paper, the selection of party is a very crucial decision. The reason behind this is that, if the govt. of the oil abandoned country directly is directly linked to the contract then it has to be responsible for all the liabilities. Therefore, it is better to make any govt. enterprise a party of the contact. Conclusion: Now, it can be expected that the oil and natural gas abandoned countries are well experienced with the negotiation process with different international countries. They are also expected to have proper knowledge on the oil exploration process. This can place the countries in relatively stronger position while negotiating. At the same time, the country has to ensure the companies that they will get a favorable situation in all aspect. A fair treatment will be beneficial for both the parties. References Aberlour-press.com, (2015).The Technical and Legal Guide to the Global Oil and Gas Industry. [online] Available at: https://www.aberlour-press.com/ [Accessed 4 Aug. 2015]. Hg.org, (2015). [online] Available at: https://www.hg.org/oil-and-gas-law.html [Accessed 4 Aug. 2015]. Hilyard, J. (2012).The oil gas Industry. Tulsa, Okla.: PennWell. https://unctad.org/en/docs/diaeiia20097a1_en.pdf. (2015). 1st ed. Inkpen, A. and Moffett, M. (2011).The global oil gas industry. Tulsa, Okla.: PennWell. International, E. (2015).Oil and Gas Legal Advice - Energy Law and Natural Resources - Eversheds International. [online] Eversheds.com. Available at: https://www.eversheds.com/global/en/what/sectors/energy/oil-and-gas.page [Accessed 4 Aug. 2015]. Internationallawoffice.com, (2015).Legal Issues in the Oil and Gas Industry The African Challenge - International Law Office. [online] Available at: https://www.internationallawoffice.com/conferences/Detail.aspx?g=dff21f74-458c-4a48-aec4-304db98c63e1 [Accessed 4 Aug. 2015]. Law.ed.ac.uk, (2015).Modules | Postgraduate Certificate in Law | Online Distance Learning | Edinburgh Law School. [online] Available at: https://www.law.ed.ac.uk/teaching/online_distance_learning/postgraduate_certificate_in_law/modules/international_oil_and_gas_law [Accessed 4 Aug. 2015]. Lawteacher.net, (2015).Legal Aspects Of Oil And Gas Contracts International Law Essay | Law Teacher. [online] Available at: https://www.lawteacher.net/free-law-essays/international-law/legal-aspects-of-oil-and-gas-contracts-international-law-essay.php [Accessed 4 Aug. 2015]. Ogel.org, (2015).OGEL Journal (Oil, Gas Energy Law Intelligence) - Global Energy Law Regulation Portal. [online] Available at: https://www.ogel.org/ [Accessed 4 Aug. 2015]. OIL GAS MAJORS SIGN CHINESE FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT. (2002).Filtration Industry Analyst, 2002(8), p.3. OIL GAS WITHSTAND TOUGH YEAR. (2002).Filtration Industry Analyst, 2002(8), pp.2-3. OIL GAS WITHSTAND TOUGH YEAR. (2002).Filtration Industry Analyst, 2002(8), pp.2-3. Oilandgasiq.com, (2015).Legal and Regulatory | Oil and Gas Law and Regulations. [online] Available at: https://www.oilandgasiq.com/legal-and-regulatory/ [Accessed 4 Aug. 2015]. Optimistic outlook for oil and gas industry. (1999).Pump Industry Analyst, 1999(47), p.2. Rgu.ac.uk, (2015).LLM Oil and Gas Law Degree | Oil and Gas Law LLM. [online] Available at: https://www.rgu.ac.uk/law/study-options/distance-and-flexible-learning/oil-and-gas-law-full-time [Accessed 4 Aug. 2015]. Snell Wilmer, (2015).Oil and Gas Law and Litigation Services - Oil and Gas Attorneys - Snell Wilmer. [online] Available at: https://www.swlaw.com/services/oil-gas-and-natural-resources [Accessed 4 Aug. 2015]. USFILTER STRENGTHENS PROFILE IN OIL AND GAS. (2002).Filtration Industry Analyst, 2002(7), p.13. USFILTER STRENGTHENS PROFILE IN OIL AND GAS. (2002).Filtration Industry Analyst, 2002(7), p.13. Www4.rgu.ac.uk, (2015).RGU: RGU Module: Environmental Aspects Of Oil And Gas Law (BSM624). [online] Available at: https://www4.rgu.ac.uk/prospectus/modules/disp_moduleView.cfm?Descriptor=BSM624 [Accessed 4 Aug. 2015].

Youth Violence the Anomie Theory an Example of the Topic Government and Law Essays by

Youth Violence the Anomie Theory Criminal behavior has long baffled psychologists and society in general. While extensive studies have been made in an attempt to explain criminal acts, none thus far has been found to satisfactorily explain all the complex processes and the interplay of factors that pushes an individual over the edge to finally commit to the act of doing something illegal or harmful to someone else. Criminal behavior is complex enough, but crime as perpetrated by the youth is even more complicated and disturbing. As such, the need to come up with theories and models for juvenile crime is very important. Need essay sample on "Youth Violence & the Anomie Theory" topic? We will write a custom essay sample specifically for you Proceed Among these theories, the most widely-accepted is the one forwarded by constitutive criminology. It is a perspective that analyzes crime as a product of the complex interplay between man and the social structures that he interacts with. (Sanders & Ferrell, 1995, 146) This constitutive theory rejects the argument of traditional modernist criminology that crime and offenders can be separated entirely from the social processes that the criminal functions in and interacts with. This theory believes that crime is the end product of the complex interactions that take place among the individual with social structures and society's control institutions. (Sanders & Ferrell, 1995, 146) According to this theory, crime therefore cannot be analyzed and corrected in isolation from society. As such, the society where the person is a part of as well and the crime committed cannot be divorced from each other. University Students Frequently Tell Us: I'm not in the mood to write my paper now. I want to spend time with my boyfriend Specialists propose: Entrust Your Essay Paper To Us And Get A+ College Essay Helper Purchase An Essay Collage Papers For Sale Cheap Writing Services A foundation of constitutive criminology perspective is Bandura's social learning theory which underscores the role of society in the shaping of an individual's character and reinforcing certain types of behavior. This means that any one person's behavior is affected or influenced by the behavior of others. The need to be accepted and conform to society is a cornerstone of social learning theory. Social learning theory has found great relevance in the understanding of offensive behaviors (Bandura, 1977) and psychological disorders. Of course because social learning theory is applied in juvenile deviant behavior, it also stands to reason that it can be used for reforming offenders. Bandura's social learning theory has been further refined by Merton's Anomie theory. This theory goes on to explain how the individual and society interact to provoke criminal behavior within the person involved. The deprivations that an individual experiences in a certain area create a social trend that encourages criminal activities. (Hopkins and Burke, 2005, 99) The gap that exists between material goals and the means to acquire it creates pressure or strain which eventually leads to criminal behavior. Merton's social structure and anomie theory explains why there are differences in criminal activities across various social groups. Merton maintains that the opportunities in society are not equally accessible to all and it further argues that social structures or stratification is the main reason why people commit criminal acts. Pressures within society may drive certain people against the wall and provoke them to commit a crime. Hopkins and Burke recognize that while Merton's Anomie Theory has given better insights not just on criminal behavior, but deviance and disorder as well. This theory's contribution to explaining the social phenomena of crime had been very helpful in the endeavor to explain and understand criminal behavior, especially in cases of juvenile delinquency. Bandura's social learning and Merton's Anomie Theory is very evident in gang violence. Young people who grew up in dysfunctional families often look for validation and comfort from somewhere else. (Decker 1996, 88) Whether they find it within a gang or friends, the fact still remains that these people are feeling the economic crunch. These young people, without any reason at all, will usually engage in gang violence in order to be accepted even if the criminal does not believe in the merits of his or her action. The pressure from peers to do what they are doing is tremendous because the person becomes a criminal because of the desire to be accepted. A good case in point whould be Jeffery Dahmer of the United States who has been found guilty of the murder of at least 17 men and boys in the course of 13 years, from the years 1978 to 1991. Dahmer's murders were particularly horrible, because his victims were not simply killed, but were also sodomized, tortured, dismembered, and eaten. Dahmer has always been a loner in youth, and engaged in cruel acts to animals at a very young age. Dahmer did not grow up in poverty, but he did grow up exposed to the constant fighting of his parents, who eventually divorced when Dahmer was 18 years old. Their commonality lies in the fact that the constant fighting and eventual divorce may correspond to the Removal of Positively Valued Stimuli in Dahmer's case. The constant fighting between two of the most important people in Dahmer's life was the strain that led him to the deviant life. Regardless of any theory, there is no denying the fact that any crime is a product of a highly complex process. However, while crime may indeed be just the end product of a series of interactions between the perpetrator and the world around him, the question still remains why some people who grow up in harsh conditions grow up to be normal people while others become social deviants. As the criminal makes the choice to commit a crime, how much of this is because of social and physical environment and how much of this is purely the individual's choice? Indeed, many theories have been forward to explain criminal and deviant behavior, and some criminals meet certain profiles while others simply defy explanation. For criminal psychologists the challenge is to create theories that will help prevent crimes rather than analyze the crime after the fact. Of course this is difficult if not entirely impossible because human beings by nature are mutable and unpredictable. As previously mentioned, learning does not take place in a vacuum; it does so within a social context. Young children are very impressionable, and they need constant supervision and explicit guidance from their parents. Children should be made to realize what behaviors are acceptable and those that are not. Delinquency is generally regarded as a product of rational thinking. As such, it is also believed that juvenile delinquency can be prevented through punitive action. These forms of punishment or retribution are believed to discourage would-be delinquents because they fear the punishment more than they want to commit delinquent acts. In the end it might be said that criminals are made. Some individual are more prone or vulnerable to committing deviant or criminal behavior, but their social relationships and interactions determine whether such tendencies are encouraged or suppressed all together. A person, as a social animal, is a complex product of his unique heritage and the environment in which he was given the opportunity to grow. As such, condemnation of the crime should never be taken as condemnation of the person. What we need is a shift in paradigm; rather than punish the criminal, we should provide an environment that will allow him to realize the consequences of his crime, repent of what has been done, and give life another shot. Every person deserves no less. References Bandura, A. (1977). Social Learning Theory. Prentice-Hall. Hopkins, R., and Burke. (2005). An Introduction to Criminological Theory. Willan Publishing. Decker, S. D., Van Winkle, Barrik. (1996) Life in the Gang: Family, Friends, and Violence. Cambridge University Press. Sanders, C. and Ferrell, J. (1995). Cultural Criminology. UPNE. Siegel, L. J., Welsh, B. C., Senna, J. J., (2005) Juvenile Delinquency: Theory, Practiceand Law. Thomson Wadsworth.

A Critical Analysis of the Procurement Policy for a Local Government The WritePass Journal

A Critical Analysis of the Procurement Policy for a Local Government Executive Summary A Critical Analysis of the Procurement Policy for a Local Government ). Early engagement is crucial in maintaining savings and improvements that further reflect in transformational changes in the council’s procurement strategy. The whole lifecycle approach adopted by Leeds City Council regarding its procurement strategy assumes that service delivery should not be compromised. Other significant dimensions of this approach relate to contact management and exit which contribute to achieving extensive value for many. In addition, the recent changes observed in the procurement strategy of Leeds City Council and that of Staffordshire County Council reflect the importance of the skills and capacity of procurement professionals. They are mostly responsible for ensuring the maintenance of a relevant procurement process based on supporting the council’s business continuity needs (Niezen and Weller 2006). The latter is extensively manifested in the procurement strategy of Staffordshire County Council. Procurement professionals structure arrangements with key providers in an attempt to manage the risks pertaining to the process of supplying goods and services. Thus, professionals in the respective field are expected to set high quality processes through cross-functional strategic activities that are evident in both Leeds City Council and Staffordshire County Council (Loppacher et al. 2006). Leeds City Council’s procurement strategy considers the significance of employing common principles a nd rules which are properly designed to correspond to the needs of all included categories. Emphasis is on reflecting the needs of the specific service areas along with stakeholder needs. This recent change in the procurement strategy of Leeds City Council is in line with ensuring quality outcomes (Leeds City Council Procurement Strategy 2013). Such procurement strategy is comparable to the one of Staffordshire County Council due to the process of aligning delivery of goods and services with the corporate needs identified by Staffordshire County Council (Staffordshire County Council 2014). The respective council utilises the expertise of procurement professionals to ensure social values outcomes as well as sufficient savings achieved through a balanced scorecard used for procurement. The focus on the skills and capacity of procurement professionals is among the improved areas of Leeds City Council’s procurement strategy. Having skilled and experienced staff is important in delivering high quality outcomes to local communities. Moreover, Leeds City Council manifests its responsibility to support the development and training of procurement professionals in order to maintain high standards across the profession (Loppacher et al. 2006). There is a solid sense of accountability evident in the practice of each procurement professional working at Leeds City Council. In comparison, Staffordshire County Council emphasises the capacity of its procurement staff in terms of providing legal training packages. This indicates an ongoing process of developing the knowledge and expertise of all professionals involved in the procurement practice (Arora et al. 2007). In this way, procurement professionals can work together with other experts in the field to implement the spe cific objectives listed in the procurement strategy of both Leeds City Council and Staffordshire County Council. One of the observable recent changes in the procurement strategy of Leeds City Council is that the central procurement function is projected to serve as a flexible source of excellence and thus is accountable for providing a substantial source of expertise. Procurement professionals working in Leeds City Council and Staffordshire County Council are extensively trained to demonstrate ownership and accountability to the public in their respective communities (Kennekae 2012). Elements of structured governance and assurance make Leeds City Council’s procurement strategy rather effective. However, the procurement strategy of Staffordshire County Council is oriented towards indicating a ‘customer of choice’ model of delivering services. This implies that procurement professionals working in Staffordshire County Council are responsible for the creation of greater visibility of the council’s requirements for goods, services and provider performance (Staffordshire C ounty Council 2014). Therefore, professionals are determined to ensure proper communications and organising skills that help them in the establishment and implementation of linkage. Similarly, procurement professionals in Leeds City Council are devoted to research good practice documents and toolkits while trying to reinforce their skills and capacity. Furthermore, the procurement strategy of Leeds City Council is comparable to the one of Staffordshire County Council in the aspect of openness and transparency. Both councils indicate an ambition of being open and transparent which reflects in providing visible contracts as well as constantly updated management information (Kim and Netessine 2012). Leeds City Council places importance on presenting clear and accessible tender processes and documentation. Openness and transparency ensure the formation of a positive relationship between the council and its procurement partners. Likewise, such aspects are closely linked with instilling confidence in the public regarding the adopted procurement approach (McLean 2008). In comparison, the procurement strategy implemented by Staffordshire County Council indicates its staff’s commitment to ensure compliance and probity which may be associated with the principles of openness and transparency manifested by Leeds City Council. Recommendations   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The recent changes to the procurement strategy of Leeds City Council indicate that the respective council’s approach is comparable to the strategy of Staffordshire County Council. Yet certain recommendations are listed below to achieve further improvements in Leeds City Council’s procurement strategy: Procurement professionals should work on creating an inclusive procurement strategy in which smaller providers are presented with an opportunity to participate (McLean 2008); The council should constantly research and update its available procurement tools to guarantee competitively established standards in the field; The council should consider the removal of unnecessary restrictions which would allow the institution to evaluate suppliers in an objective manner rather than focus on limiting business criteria such as revenue (Loppacher et al. 2006); Professionals need to demonstrate sensitivity to financing issues to include established payment policies; It is fundamental to indicate potential hidden costs in terms of providing clear information on the actual insurance, liability as well as regulatory requirements; this practice would allow innovative suppliers to compete (Hawkins et al. 2011) Conclusion The paper indicated an analysis of Leeds City Council’s procurement strategy with special focus on its recent changes and how they are comparable to the procurement strategy outlined by Staffordshire County Council (Leeds City Council Procurement Strategy 2013). Thus, significant aspects of both procurement strategies have been discussed in order to identify the focus of procurement professionals working in the two councils. Certain aspects of the two procurement strategies were found similar especially with regards to category management and lifecycle approach. Moreover, the efforts of procurement professionals are equally important to the work of either Leeds City Council or Staffordshire County Council (Staffordshire County Council 2014). In this way, the paper ensured adequate arguments about the effectiveness of the procurement strategies adopted by these institutions. Tender Specification Sheet Leeds City Council is seeking tenders from various private providers for the maintenance and operation of the woodhouse car park in front of the University. The intention is that the car park will operate as a proper public amenity. There are certain standards of services that will be followed. The respective parking services are set at prices identified at proper market levels. Prices are competitive in order to encourage visitor parking regarding close distance to local businesses. Discouraging the practice of day-long parking is essential for the maintenance of the woodhouse car park. The park will be open 24 hours a day, seven days/ week. Personal security will be ensured to customers and visitors. They need to feel secure in the identified car park area. The integration of area security is a priority to the Council. All tenderers are invited to submit their applications by providing the following documentation: -Financial Proposal for a period of 3 years; -Details on the percentage of the turnover expected to be paid annually to the Council; -Evidence indicating previous experience in the area of car park projects; -Providing details of the resources available to complete the project; In order to evaluate the bids from the private players, it is important to provide a set of key performance indicators that will be consistently used (Iyer and Pazgal 2008). The first performance indicator is that the selected tender should provide the best value for money at reasonable cost. This may result from balancing cost and quality. Another key performance indicator that will be used to assess the bids is that of prequalification. Such indicator is implemented to make sure that only those who meet specific criteria will be considered for inclusion to bid (Loppacher et al. 2006). In addition, prequalification is associated with responses to a set of questions provided by the Council. Major questions should include elements of quality, capacity to supply and financial competence. The indicator of open and flexible communication is fundamental as no private player should be given preference. Even though meetings with tenderers who have placed their bids may be necessary at a cer tain point, they should take place solely for clarifying specific aspects regarding the tender (Hawkins et al. 2011). It is important to use recognised channels of communication in order to avoid confusion of private players or any misunderstanding of presented information. References Arora, P., Garg, A. K. and Vaidya, S. C. (2007), ‘Efficacy of Integrating Corporate Social Responsibility and Procurement Strategy’, South Asian Journal of Management, Vol. 14(1) pp105-119 Hawkins, T., Gravier, M. and Powley, E. (2011), ‘Public versus Private Sector Procurement Ethics and Strategy: What Each Sector Can Learn from the Other’, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 103(4) pp567-586 Iyer, G. and Pazgal, A. (2008), ‘Procurement Bidding with Restrictions’, Quantitative Marketing Economics, Vol. 6(2) pp177-204 Kennekae, L. (2012), ‘Procurement Strategies to Serve the Public Good,’ International Trade Forum, 2 pp11-111 Kim, S. H. and Netessine, S. (2011), ‘Collaborative Cost Reduction and Component Procurement under Information Asymmetry’, INSEAD Working Papers Collections, 33 pp1-40 Leeds City Council Procurement Strategy (2013), Leeds City Council [Online]. Available at: leeds.gov.uk/docs/Procurement%20Strategy%20V1.0%20PUBLISH%2030.09.2013.pdf [Accessed: 29 April 2014]. Loppacher, J. S., Luchi, R., Cagliano, R. and Spina, G. (2006), ‘Global Sourcing and Procurement Strategy: A Model of Interrelated Decisions’, Supply Chain Forum: International Journal, Vol. 7(1) pp34-46 McLean, S. (2008), ‘Choice in Government Software Procurement: A Winning Strategy’, Journal of Public Procurement, Vol.8(1) pp70-97 Niezen, C. and Weller, W. (2006), ‘Procurement as Strategy’, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 84(9) pp22-24 Staffordshire County Council (2014), Staffordshire Procurement [Online]. Available at: https://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/business/procurement/homepage.aspx [Accessed: 29 April 2014].

The Sovereign Debt Crisis in the Euro Region Essay

The Sovereign Debt Crisis in the Euro Region - Essay Example There were many European countries that agreed to pay out to potential investors on loan so that they could build their business or create a boom in their existing businesses. They started offering higher rates and better pay out to the bonds, and people started investing into them as their yield was comparably higher and better than the US security bonds that paid out less. There were quite many high risks lending and the loans that were being given out were not secure at all, thus when they defaulted this created a whole lot of collapses. Creating a joint pool of savings and money created a domino effect, if one country defaulted all the countries in the pool would be suffering and this created the situation that if one drowned the rest would go down too as the countries were all connected. The current economic situation will ultimately cause many businesses to shut down and thus this will impact the current job situation. When the firms will start to close down there will be many people who will become unemployed, and this will increase the poverty rate in countries as well. The countries will also face the loss of confidence and will have lesser external investments which would bring an overall halt in their economic growth. There are many reasons and causes that had resulted in the European crisis. The most prominent example is that of Ireland, they paid out loans without securities the investors and encouraged them to develop real state. The government assumed that this would boost their economies and bring in newer profits, but what they failed to acknowledge was what they would do if the borrowers failed to pay back. This created a property bubble and their economy started to tumble because of non-payments of debts. In Greece they became benevolent to the workers and started paying out them in a great amount with relaxed debt conditions, and many countries even borrowed from global investors to bring progress into the country, this created external debt s. Another real significant reason for the current crisis is that the government’s bailing out of large businesses, when they were suffering the financial crisis shocks, this caused the government to empty their own treasuries and have no benefits in return, they in turn themselves started borrowing a lot, and this led to them coming nearer to bankruptcies, as the inability to pay those large loans brought them on the verge of becoming bankrupt. The increase in imports of the smaller European nations brought about an increase in the trade imbalance which again affected the economies of these countries greatly; Germany was the only country that had a positive trade balance. The best and most common method that is adopted by the countries to face the economic crisis is to print money, which causes devaluation of the currency, in case of Euro zone this is not possible as the countries have a pooled in treasury, they cannot print money and thus the inflexibility causes the countr ies to suffer together, it reduces the immediate impact but then instead of one all countries get affected (Kolb 2011). It has been seen that once again the main issues related to the economic downturn has been caused by the Developed countries. The countries that are related to the European countries will have the greatest impact on the developing countries and the countries that are directly or indirectly related to these countries. For example if we have a look at China, they are the principal

Stem Cell Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Stem Cell - Essay Example This study stresses that  ethical issues arise in every step comprised in stem cell research. These steps range from permission or authority to give stem cells to be used in research, experimentation stage, and in supervisory stage necessary in the process of stem cell research. In terms of giving the stem cells for research, ethical issues arise relating to informed consent.As the discussiondeclares that  stem cells may be developed in the laboratory or originate from foetuses from legal abortions. It is important to note that individual hold diverse viewpoints or opinions on whether stem cells ought to be used in research and treatment. Conversely, there are people who donate their foetuses, for instance those involved in miscarriages, to be used for research. However, they may hold reservations on how stems cells from the foetus ought to be used. It is therefore imperative for scientists to ensure they obtain informed consent from these donors. Concerns have arisen that most o f those who sign the consent form rarely understand the content of the forms.  There are ethical issues relating to destruction of embryos and their creation in the laboratory for use in research. There are concerns among groups of people all over the world that developing embryos in the laboratory with the main objective of using them in research is infringement into the rights of the foetus or embryo.  Many people also believe that a child ought to be the product of both man and woman.

Conformity Assessment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Conformity Assessment - Research Paper Example Conformity assessment is a comprehensive term defined as â€Å"measures taken by manufacturers, their customers, regulatory authorities, and independent, third parties to assess conformity to standards† . Similarly, the joint ISO/IEC 17000, of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) defines the term as â€Å"a demonstration that specified requirements relating to a process, system, person or body are fulfilled† . However, ISO itself does not undertake such work. Conformity assessment and standardization differ from each other, although they are closely related. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO), though established by the United Nations, is a key non-governmental institution. It supports the progress of industrialization, as well as regulates production and consumption . Conformity assessment and standardization need to be mutually supportive in order to promote economic growth and sustainable development . Conformity Assessment and the International Organization of Standardization (ISO) are considered to be at opposite ends of the technical infrastructure business . Manufacturers frequently have their own internal testing sytems to ensure that their work meets the required standard. However, in the private economy, increasingly there is third-party certification of inspection. â€Å"In fact, many national standard setting bodies now make such third-party certification a major part of their own business† . The national bodies provide â€Å"accreditation† certification on the qualification and eligibility of third-party inspectors to do their job. While ISO neither accredits nor certifies, ISO members â€Å"certify the certifiers†.

Media Prima and Astro Malaysia: Staff Management

Media Prima and Astro Malaysia: Staff Management 1.0 Introduction Media Prima is the biggest listed media group in Malaysia, owning all main private television stations and having approximately 54 percent of Malaysian television viewers, with its closest rival, the pay-television satellite operator, Astro, which offers over 100 channels or stations, controlling a market share of roughly 29 per cent. RTM controls 17 per cent of the market. Media Prima wholly owns TV channel like TV3, NTV7 and TV9 and holds a 99.5 per cent interest in 8TV. TV3, Media Primas flagship television station and the number one free-to-air television station in the country, finished the 2007 season dominating the years top 20 programmes (The New Straits Times, 4 January 2008). TV3 recorded a 33 per cent share of viewers in 2007 among over a hundred channels available on satellite and FTA TV (The New Straits Times, 4 January 2008). The group also controls radio stations Fly FM and Hot FM, with a combined listenership of 3.5 million. Besides that, Media Prima has a 43 per cent stake in the equity of The New Straits Times Press, which has four newspapers in its stable. Media Prima is said to reach 22 million Malaysians daily: about 11 million television viewers, seven million newspaper readers and four million radio listeners. Malaysias population is a little over 25 million. Astro All Asia Networks Plc, the group that has the monopoly over Malaysias subscription television operation, reaches about 10 million viewers in some two million homes representing a penetration rate of approximately 38 per cent of Malaysias TV households in 2010. (Astro Annual Report, 2010) Astro began operating in 1996 and today offers over 100 channels with a wide mix of foreign and local programmes. Its sister company Airtime Management Programming runs the eight radio stations in its stable, include Hitz, Mix, Light Easy, Era, My, Xfresh, THR, and Sinar. 2.0 Training and Development Conduct a Training and Development in an organization is essential where it needs is identified during each employees annual career development review. From this process, the acquisition of new skills, competencies, attitudes and knowledge will lead the employees to changed behaviour from reactive to proactive, greater maturity and critical thinking. In Astro, employee satisfaction survey was carried out to complement existing communication channels. Opinions of 3,054 employees were collated through online survey forms. The survey sought employees views on 13 major categories covering various aspects of their jobs. (Appendix B) The total favourable for Training and Career Development where employees think about Astro is doing are 65 percent. This figure is considered moderate where it should take further action to improve. Thus, in 2009, Astro convened two full-scale Town Hall meetings to share latest developments and discussed the Companys direction, 48 training seminars on topics ranging from leadership courses to safety and health trainings as well as introduce new high definition service which is branded as Astro B.yond. Information that had transpired was recorded in DVDs, and will send to Astro offices across the country in future for training and development purposes. Realities in economic and advances in technology cause the availability of jobs in TV station have changed rapidly. Therefore, there were several training initiatives designed to increase the number of skilled people in Media Prima. In 2009, the organization invested about RM1.14 million for staff training which involved 3,615 man-days in total in the organization. A summary of the organization training breakdown for 2008 and 2009 is shown in Appendix C. The majority of the training is provided to technical staff which conducted at the organization itself. This is to ensure that the organization maintain the best quality and keep up to date with the latest technology and techniques available in media production. Although both organization utilize Training and Development, but the ways of conduct is very different. Astro adopt an audiovisual method where used of DVDs for training and development will helps the organization to reduce cost, manpower and not time consuming. On the other side, Media Prima utilize apprenticeship training where the employees enter the skilled trades given through instruction and experience in the practical and theoretical aspects of work. When employees face problems in workplace, they can solve it based on their experience gained during the training. 3.0 Performance Management System A new performance evaluation system in Astro consists of a 360Â ° feedback mechanism to get a balanced assessment of the employee own peers. The need for this balance is also reflected in a revised Performance Review Form. One significant aspect of the new performance evaluation is the Relative Ranking Rating which rewards high performing employees in a transparent manner. Employees who fall under the lowest of the three-tier scale will be coached and guided via a Low Performance Management Process (CAP) system. (Appendix D) At Astro, employees are given clear expectations of the accomplishments desired of them as well as the ways to perform and achieve these expectations. This is done through the Performance Management System (PMS) under which periodic performance evaluation exercises are conducted to review employees performance. With this system, employees are aware of their strengths and also given ample room to work on improving their performances. The reviews run in 2 cycles in the span of the financial year; a year end review in January followed by a midyear review in July. Media Prima has introduced a 360 degree feedback system which is also referred to as the multirater or multisource feedback. It provides employees with performance feedback from supervisors, co-workers, peers, customers and reporting staff. It also includes self-assessment. We implemented this system as we take human capital management and development very seriously. 360 degree assessment is a process whereby the company takes stock of its capability once every two to three years to meet business challenges. The process begins with the company putting in place a competency framework which is aligned to the business direction of the company. The competency framework is used as a guide to recruit, develop, assess and compensate the employees based on performance and capabilities. In the case of Media Prima, an external consultant was hired to conduct the data collection process as well as the feedback and the follow up process. 4.0 Compensation and Rewards The Group operates a performance based bonus scheme for all employees, including the executive directors. The criteria for the scheme is dependent on the achievement of key performance indicators (KPI) set for the Groups business activities as measured against targets, together with an assessment of each individuals performance during the period. Bonuses payable to the executive directors are reviewed by the Remuneration Committee and approved by the Board. Employees compensation is determined by their performance which is measured across various Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Media Prima uses a point-based system which ranges from 2 to 5 in determining the weight of the bonus (5 being the highest performing). This process is used to assess all employees (100%). The percentage of employees achieving each performing level and the entitlement of each level is listed in Appendix E. Exploring the Four Stages of the Audit Process: Case Study Exploring the Four Stages of the Audit Process: Case Study Internal Audit is an independent function that provides an objective assurance and consultancy activity to improve and add value on an organizations operation. The auditors aim to help the Merami Berhad accomplish its objectives by evaluating the effectiveness of its risk management, control, and governance processes by bringing a discipline, systematic approach. The audit process is divided into four stages which are Planning (Preliminary Review), Fieldwork, Audit Report, and Follow-up Review. One of the main key objectives to carry out an audit is to minimize the time and avoid disrupting ongoing activities. As we are a public accounting firm for Merami Berhad for the past five years. Meramin Berhad is a public listed company, whose sales for the year 2009 were over RM 25 million. The audit fees we normally charge to Merami Berhad are RM 50,000. Before an audit is assigned to staff, the auditor must consider a few matters such as the size of the company to be audited. If it is a Public Listed Company, 3 or 4 staff will be required. Besides that, the budget is very important as the auditor are always advised to stay within the budget so that the audit fees is sufficient to cover all the cost incurred especially the disbursements. The auditor should also consider about the deadline. An audit assignment usually has very tight deadlines and therefore staff must ensure that the Audit Report is submitted to the Partner of Review on time so that the signing of accounts is not delayed. When the audit manager assigns a job to the senior, the first thing the senior does is to meet with his team members to discuss about the job and to delegate duties to the respective members. The audit assistant will normally be asked to retrieve the previous years file of the company from the filling room. The previous year file is always used as a guide only. Staff must always tailor-make the audit for the year according to the events that occurred during the year. Once the last years file is retrieved, a new file will be opened for the current years audit. STAGE 1: PLANNING (PREMILIRARY REVIEW) Planning is essential as this is the first time we understand Merami Berhad business and their controls in the company. During the planning stage of the audit, the auditorwill contact the client to notifythem of an upcoming audit and to schedule a time during the year that is most convenient for the audit to commence and take place. The auditor will send them a preliminary checklist. This is a list of documents (e.g. organization charts, financial statements) that will help the auditor learn about their unit before planning the audit. After reviewing the information, the auditor will plan the review, conduct a risk workshop primarily to identify key risks and raise risk awareness, draft an audit plan, and schedule an opening meeting. Engagement Letter Merami Berhad is informed of the audit through anannouncement or engagementletter from the Internal Audit Director. This letter communicates the scope and objectives of the audit, the auditors assigned to the audit, the audit methodology used in the audit and other relevant information. This letter serves as a contract which outlines the responsibilities of the auditor and client to prevent any unnecessary misunderstanding of what is expected or required of the other party. The auditor and the client must also agree on the terms of the engagement. Opening Conference Nearer the start of the audit, the auditor will arrange a meeting with Merami Berhad to discuss the scope and objectives of the audit. The opening conference should be held to gather information about the mission, critical processes, and control procedures of the unit to be used in the preliminary survey process. The opening meeting should include senior management and any administrative staff that may be involved in the audit. Merami Berhad describes the unit or system to be reviewed, the organization, available resources (personnel, facilities, equipment, funds), and other relevant information. The audit senior usually discusses with the client about the companys performance for the year in terms of increase or decrease in profitability. This may due to factors ranging from launching of new products during the year to high-position staffs leaving the company. These will all be documented in the Business Understanding Document. The internal auditor meets with the senior officer directly responsible for the unit under review and any staff members he wishes to include. It is important that the client identify issues or areas of special concern that should be addressed. The time frame of the audit will be determined, and we should discuss any potential timing issues (e.g. vacations, deadlines) that could impact the audit. The opening conference is an important step in a regular audit. It is an opportunity to establish the proper tone and to begin building good relationships. Preliminary Survey In thisphasethe auditor gathers relevant information that they have gained from the opening conference is used in conjunction with other relevant information about the unit in order to obtain a general overview of operations. He talks with key personnel and reviews reports, files, and other sources of information. This may include information on budgets and strategic plans as well as past audit reports. There are certain risks that the auditor will always review to ensure that they are being adequately controlled and managed these include financial transactions, local risk management and business continuity planning. Internal Control Review All of this information is then used to make a preliminary assessment of the risks and controls for Merami Berhad unit. The auditor will review the units internal control structure, a process which is usually time-consuming. In doing this, the auditor uses a variety of tools and techniques to gather and analyze information about the operation. The review of internal controls helps the auditor determine the areas of highest risk and design tests to be performed in the fieldwork section. In the interests of quality and consistency, the Head of Internal Audit reviews this work and agrees the scope of work to be carried out. Audit Program Preparation of theaudit programconcludes the preliminary review phase. The audit program establishes theproceduresnecessary to complete an efficient and effective audit. It includes a detailed plan of the work to be performed as well as the steps required to achieve the audit objectives. There should be sufficient detail for less experienced staff to perform the steps however it should not be overly detailed whereby it might cause auditors to execute steps routinely and override their judgment. STAGE 2: FIELDWORK Transaction Testing Revenue Cycle Sales procedure and cash receipt transaction are the 2 checking procedures under revenue cycle. Sales Procedure A sales quotation provides a pre-sales processing environment which allows prospective buyers to examine the costs involved for a completion of work. A sales quotation typically consists of information like quantity, item and its description, unit prices and etc. Many businesses cannot have an upfront price for the service they provide. Thus, sale quotation should be provided by companies to its customers to give them an estimate of the cost involved. In addition, a delivery order is written directions from a consignor or shipper of a shipment to a carrier or freight forwarder to release the shipment to the named delivery party in freight-prepaid shipment. It allows direct delivery of goods to the carrier or warehouseman. Invoices are essentially a detailed bill left by vendors and outside supplier for goods or services rendered to a company under sales procedure. The document may be called a Sales Invoice, from the point of view of the vendor, or a Purchase Invoice by the buyer. A typical invoice might list the quantity of each item, prices, billable hours, service description and a contact address for payment. While some expenses may be paid through an accounts payable department by the posted due date. Besides, cash sale can be used in several different contexts. A cash sale has to do with the purchase of goods or services and involves the immediate possession of the new owner, without any delay in time between purchase and assuming full ownership in just about every situation. In the world of finance and in retail situations, people are engage in cash sales on a delay basis, Segregation of duties is critical to effective internal control. It reduces the risk of both erroneous and inappropriate actions. The handling of cash receipts and accounting for such receipt need to segregate. This is to reduce the likelihood that errors will remain undetected by providing an accounting check over the receipt of cash. For example, those who handle cash receipts would not have the authority to prepare or sign cheques, would not have access to accounting records and would not be involved in reconciling bank accounts. If a person has access to both the cash receipts and the accounts receivable records, it is possible for cash to be diverted and the shortage of cash in the accounting records to be covered which can result in theft of the entitys cash. In the other hand, for those who perform sales activity including those who maintain contact with customers and issue sales orders, would not perform any credit approval, billing, shipping, credit memo, cash receipts and a ccounting activities. Cash Receipt Transaction Most business customers pay by cheque or electronically. Cash receipts are only given to acknowledge cash payments; which are rarely made by business customers. Cash register and lockboxes are often used as safeguards here. In order to prevent fraud and error, different employees should be responsible for receiving and recording cash collections here. The purpose of preventing fraud and error is the validity, completeness, timeliness, authorization, valuation, classification, posting and summarization. Its very important to the cash receipt transaction. The auditor can check monthly bank reconciliation to prevent any recorded cash receipts not deposited in order to ensure the validity of the cash receipt transaction. For instance, misstatement in sales that may occur includes fictitious sale being recorded in the account o f a regular customer. Expenditure Cycle There are two checking procedures under expenditure cycle, which are purchasing procedure and cash disbursement transaction. Purchasing Procedure A purchasing transaction normally begins with a purchase requisition generated by a department or support function. A purchasing order is then the purchase of goods or services from a supplier. As soon as the goods and services have been rendered, the entity records a liability to the supplier and pays later. Basically, there are three types of for purchase transactions which are the purchase of goods or services on cash or credit, payment of the liabilities arising from such purchases and return of goods or services. The second type is cash disbursement transaction to clear liabilities resulting from purchase of goods or services. The final type is a purchase return transaction which involves the return of goods previously purchased to supplier for cash or credit. Good segregation of duties must be done in order to prevent embezzlement or any fraudulent activities. Firstly, a purchaser who orders should not be the person who receives goods. This can prevent the purchaser from placing excessive orders and keeping the rest of goods. Next, a person who purchases items should not be the person who writes the cheques for it. This can avoid the person from creating orders and make payments to fictitious companies. Then, the person who writes cheques should not handle the reconciliation. This is because nobody will aware even if he writes cheques to himself or relatives. Cash Disbursement Transaction Cash disbursement can be defined as paying out of funds in a discharge of a debt or expense. Transaction Related Audit Objective (TRAO) is used here to evaluating the existence and quality of controls. The auditors transaction-related audit objectives follow and are closely related to management assertion. That is because the auditors primary responsibility is to determine whether management assertions about financial statements are justified. These transaction-related audit objectives help the auditor accumulate sufficient competent evidence required by the standard of fieldwork and decide proper evidence to accumulate for classes of transactions with a framework. In order to ensure the validity of the cash disbursement transaction, the auditor tests the validity of purchase transactions whether there is any fictitious or non-existent purchases may have been recorded in the clients records. Assets or expenses will be overstated if fraudulent transactions are recorded. As for Completeness, auditor must ensure that purchase that has been made in recorded accordingly. If fail to do so will lead to understating of assets or expenses, and the corresponding accounts payable will also be understated. As for Timing, a timing error occurs if transactions are not recorded on the dates the transaction took place. As for Authorization, the person who has authority to approve purchase should not have access to cash disbursement for the purchase. As for Valuation, appropriate methodology is used to calculate transactions and to review various reconciliations. The valuation of accruals depends on the type and the nature of the accrued expenses. As for Classifications, the major issues related to the presentation and disclosure assertions are identifying and reclassifying any material debits contained in accounts payable. For instance, segregation of purchasing and cash disbursement journal is crucial to ensure that correct amount would be allocated properly. If purchase transactions are not properly classified, assets and expenses will be misstated. As for Posting and summarization, control tools should be used to reconcile vouchers to the daily accounts payable listing or else the daily postings to the purchases journal should be reconciled to the accounts payable subsidiary records. Income Statement or Profit and Loss Account First of all, the auditor should determine and try to find out the major changes or the modification that would affect the normal relationship has been made in the production and sales area. Audit assistant are responsible to handle on detect the significant adjustment in the policies of company that would affect the item stated in the income statement. After analyze on such adjustment to ensure that no material error is found then it will continue proceed to the final stage of the audit section. For example, significant changes in employee benefits might affect salaries and employee compensation and have an effect on the income statement. Other than checking in the income statement of a company, the auditor would also look into the balance sheet on the assets and liabilities. Before the auditor start to work on it, a copy of clients balance sheet should be prepared to working papers. There are procedures of carrying out an audit on assets and liabilities. Auditors should categorize each item in the balance sheet accordingly to the audit checklist. Assets All of these are the components of assets. For Cash in Bank To ensure the information that stated in the column of the balance is complied what it really had in the bank, a confirmation request letter will be sent to all the related bank which the entity had dealing with within the financial period. In addition to get confirm to relevant bank that the balance in the bank of the company, the auditors also can get an opportunity to request the bank to provide other information such as the securities that the company held in the safekeeping. The response from the bank give the company a gold evidence to prove that cash at bank that stated in the balance sheet is complied with the real amount in bank at the balance sheet date. With the cooperation of bank, the confirmation of cash on deposit provides evidence to the existence of cash at bank and as to rights and obligations. If the balance per bank statement is different, bank reconciliation would have to be done by the audit assistants. For Account Receivable A details list of account receivables balances of the customer should be obtain before the auditor and access to the balance. The auditor will trace totals to comparative summary of accounts receivables balance and randomly select customers account from the listing to send itemized statements to get the response or confirmation of the balance. Review the confirmation replies letter from them and test accounts where there are no replies. Keep track with the potential bad debts to be written off, if exist, check the opening balances again. For Inventories When inventory is material to the financial statements, the auditor is required to attend the entitys physical inventory counting unless it is impracticable. Examine clients physical inventories count determine whether the clients counting methods are effective. The purpose of inventory attendance is to enable the auditor to obtain audit evidence regarding the existence and condition of the inventory and consider if there is any obsolescence in it. The auditor may select a sample of inventory items from the client count records and trace them to the perpetual inventory records for checking purposes. For Prepayment expenses Randomly choose the official receipts or documents that can support prepayment expenses and test on it. Then, send conformation letter to conform the amount due. For Non Current Assets The auditor should obtain a list of fixed assets expenses that register under the clients company such as depreciation charges, loss or gain on the disposal of the fixed asset, net book value, revaluation amount and etc. The revaluation done should be back by the evidence or documentation authorized by the professional. Check to invoice and agree to the description, price, date and etc. The physical existence and the condition of the assets should be check and determine whether it is located at companys premises. As for disposal of fixed assets, ensure that there is proper authorization and that profit or loss on disposal is properly recorded. Liabilities For Short Term Notes Payable A bank conformation letter should be sent out to inquire loan balance status of the company. Auditors have to calculate the principal and interest paid to check whether it comply with the figure in the balance sheet. For Long Term Debts Review the loan agreement and direct the attention to the relevant information to acquire the accurate interest charged based on the nominal interest rate calculation and auditor have to be ensuring that the interest rate stated in the income statement same with the result of calculation. For Income Tax Account The documentation of the transaction of the company is required to keep for minimum 7 year required by law. Client is required to show documentation and support for every aspects of companys tax return. For example, if the client claims itemized deductions, receipts for those deductions must be produced. In addition, to justifications for why the taxpayer felt that those deductions were legitimate. Besides that, taxpayers must open their accounting methods to inspection and demonstrate that all of their income was in fact properly documented and claimed on the tax return. This can be done through proper recording and classification for provision for taxation and deferred taxation. Advice Informal Communications As the fieldwork progresses, the auditor discusses any significantfindingswith the client. Hopefully, the client can offer insights and work with the auditor to determine the best method of resolving the finding. Usually these communications are oral. However, in more complex situations, memos and/or e-mails are written in order to ensure full understanding by the client and the auditor. A lot of information is shared via e-mail, of course, but there is more face-to-face conversation.Other than that, I would like to mention for this communication question is language. Most communications with a greater group of people (and formal meetings) are held in English; however it depends a lot on who is speaking if you will understand that person. Also if it is only me and, says, two other Indians, it is very likely that they switch to Hindi or Kannada (local language) without noticing. I then sometimes have to remind them to stay with English. Distinguishing between first and surnames is als o impossible for me, same with deciding if a name is male or female I just have to guess or find some neutral ways to address or ask for people. In particular cases, we may also provide drafts of organizations charts, proposed forms or modifications to forms, financial data or other statistics, or drafts of findings and recommendations that later may be incorporated into the formal audit report. These are all considered informal communications between the auditor and the client. Their purpose is to promote constructive communication and avoid misunderstandings. Our goal: NO SURPRISES. Audit Summary / Financial Monitoring Upon completion of the fieldwork, the auditor summarizes the audit findings, conclusions, and recommendations necessary for the audit report discussion draft. Write a summary memo to document the results of fieldwork. Conclude as to whether the information reported by the state agency in the Section 1512 reports is accurate, reliable, and timely. The audit summary gives an overview of all work done sheets according to their topics. The audit summary template gives the title, the audit number, the topic of the summary and of the work done sheets, and the creation date. In addition to the work done sheets, the audit summary also contains a summary of the observations and findings as well as an overall assessment and conclusion of the audit result. Before writing the audit summary, auditors should agree the working papers on which the summary is based with their audit lead. Working Papers Working papers are a vital tool of the audit profession. They are the support of the audit opinion. They connect the clients accounting records and financials to the auditors opinion. They are comprehensive and serve many functions. The result of audit activities must be documented truthfully, consistently, clearly, and completely, with a comprehensible description of all material details. This involves both the contents of a fieldwork activity and the procedure itself. This documentation of fieldwork activities is referred to as working papers to express its connection with the work results. The basic requirements for proper documentation apply to all types of fieldwork activities, although there are different types of documents, depending on the nature of the audit. In addition to the working papers which are mandatory, other documents can be created as optional extras; they contain information beyond the minimum information requirement. The working papers are an indication of the audit quality in general. This needs to be considered because queries by different groups of addresses or their requests for information may often require access to this documentation. Accordingly, the working papers may serve as discussion or evidence documents, for example for queries from the Board, the unit requesting the audit, Internal Audit Management, the Audit Committee, or the external auditors. The preparation of working papers is subject to certain organizational requirements. Each auditor always has the main responsibility for preparing the documents, both during and immediately after fieldwork. Even though the audit lead and Audit Manager have ultimate responsibility for quality assurance, each auditor has to prepare and maintain the working papers with the necessary attention to detail. Working papers may be compiled by hand or entered directly into a system (which is normally more expedient, because it makes it easier to access the information again). STAGE 3: AUDIT REPORT The third stage of carrying an audit is to prepare an audit report. After all the evidence for each of the item in the financial statement have been collected and proven, the senior audit and the audit assistant is going to check the closing balance amount of the balance sheet and the trial balance with the ledger account whether they are compatible with each other and to ensure that each figure is agreeing with the previous year audit account in order to prepare a working trial balance and the working paper. After this all procedure has been done, our audit assistant will prepare an audit report which expresses the opinion of the auditor, evidence of audit and recommendation for the information improvement. Discussion Draft In order to implement this process, first the auditors will discuss to prepare a draft for internal audit report to outlining the audits work, recommendation for the information that should provided and the timeframe to complete the report. The draft that prepared by the management department will show that who will responsible to implement the job, the action to be taken and the timeline to do the job. After the draft has been discussing, a meeting among the auditor will be held in order to assign the job to the person selected for preparing the report and meanwhile the draft will be sent to the particular auditor. Formal Draft The report will become the final report if the response of the management is integrated with the audit report draft. The important information that present in the report includes the title of the report, the duty of the management and the auditor in preparing the report, the scope paragraph that show the evidence of the examination and the accounting principles use to prepare the report, the opinion paragraph which expresses the opinion of the auditor and whether the financial statement is complying with the statutory requirement and the name, signature and address of the auditor who preparing the report. This is to make sure that if there is any fault present in the report, it is the responsibility of the particular auditor to in charge with the case. Final Report After that, the auditor will present the final report to the audit committee and the copies of the report will sent to the senior auditor, the management department of the audit firm and our client, Merami Berhad to review and get the approval. Client Response In our report, we could include or attached the client response in the audit finding prior to issuance of the final report. The client should highlight how report findings will be determined and include an implementation timetable in the response. However, some managers may likely to make a decision which not to implement an audit recommendation and to accept the risks that might occur with an audit finding. For example, the treasury balances are reconciled monthly instead of reconciled daily. The differences are out of the way and have been controlled since that date. The adjusting entries are made with proper documentation and review. Client Comments In our report, we always include the clients comment on our Internal Audits performance as it is part of the Internal Audits self-evaluation program. The feedback has proven to be very beneficial to us as we improve our procedures due to clients suggestion. STAGE 4: FOLLOW-UP Followed-Up Review These required certain actions taken to resolve the audit report findings may be tested to ensure the desired result were achieved. For each item included in the follow-up, review status information provided by management to determine if information addresses all parts of finding and if a corrected date or revised due date has been provided. During this stage, we will contact unit management to obtain any missing information. We also evaluate action reported as taken in response to each finding to see whether the finding has been satisfactorily corrected. If necessary, develop audit tests to prove that the finding has been corrected based on the nature of the finding and responses. The Director of Internal Audit or the auditor in charge of the follow-up review will prepare a memorandum for senior management that notifies them that audit activities are underway and describes the follow-up process. This memo should include timeframes for the project, a copy of the outstanding findings relating to areas reporting to that senior manager, a request that they distribute the findings to these areas and ask the managers to provide Internal Audit with the information requested, a statement that these comments were previously distributed as part of an audit report or close-out letter, and notification that the results will be reported to the Chancellor and Board of Trustees. Followed-Up Report In the follow-up report, it lists all of the actions taken by the client to resolve the original report findings. Unresolved findings will also appear in the follow-up report and will include a brief description of the finding, the original audit recommendation, the client response, the current condition, and the continued exposure to board of company. A discussion draft of each report with unresolved findings is circulated to the client before the report is issued. The follow-up review results will be circulated to the original report recipients officials as deemed appropriate.